Wednesday, December 31, 2008

So I had a lot of fun photographing my little one for my Christmas cards this year.

I bought a cute little elf hat from madaboutcolour.etsy.com

I set up my jewelry photo lights and snapped away. Since my little one is such a wiggle worm, I had no idea what I would end up with. He was pulling his hat off and having a good time. I ended up with a lot of good photos. Here is my favorite!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

This holiday season has just gotten away from me. First of all it was baby's first Christmas....awwwww. But he was so sick. So sorry about no sale last week.

Today's sale is for 10% off the Tigers' Eye Citrine Twist Necklace in my Etsy Store. I will also pay snail mail shipping and I will pay your tax if you are in CA. SO if you have been eyeing that one...today is YOUR day!

Monday, December 15, 2008

How about everything! 10% off of everything in my Etsy Shop for Tuesday, December 16..starting midnight eastern time and ending midnight pacific time. So there's an extra 3 Hours.

AND...regular USPS shipping is free!

Please note some items are made when you order them and may take a few days to whip up. Those items are noted in the product descriptions.

So, if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity...you may wait for a revised paypal invoice before making payment...or if you just want to make the payment right away I will credit back the difference right away.

Friday, December 12, 2008

This weekend is the trunk show at my home. I have invited four other artists and vendors to to show off their treasures for your holiday shopping enjoyment.

How do you get invited? Become a customer or a friend. If I have somehow forgotten you, please email me though the contact page at Laura Hunter Jewelry . All my jewelry will be 10% off and for my best customers and additional coupon was sent to you!

This should be a fun time. Look forward to seeing you.

The back of the invitation is posted above. Click on the photo if you would like it enlarged.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Snow Queen 2 Necklace has been completed for some time now. I just have not been able to photograph it properly. As you can see there is still some glare and bright spots on the Quartz Crystal....but this will just have to do.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Yesterday morning I logged on Etsy bright and early to list an item for all those holiday shoppers at work. This item (an expensive item) was immediately purchased. I was quite pleased and immediately told my husband the good news.

Then 5 minutes later I receive this e-mail.

"my niece is on my account helping me set it up. she ordered something, i think. please cancel the invoice. sorry."

Well, as you can imagine I was bummed.

But, what I was even more bummed about is that I lost about 20 hearts on the item. I see the hearts as very valuable. Someone on the Etsymom Team was kind enough to include my African Sky Necklace in their treasury and it received a lot of notice and a lot of hearts.

So now, that I have filed all the refund stuff with Etsy...I now have to recreate the whole listing. (Apparently I was supposed to relist before I reported the cancellation to Etsy...but I was concerned about loosing the hearts and the emails all crossed and now I am out)

So this all ate up an HOUR of my time yesterday morning. And a good amount of time relisting. And some time stewing about it in my mind.

Plus, I started thinking about all this: When you get to the point of clicking the purchase button...you know what you are doing. It's pretty obvious. And if your niece is helping you with your Etsy store...she is probably savvy enough to know what is going on. I wonder if they were just seeing what would happen when you make a purchase....at my time and expense?

I posted this mishapps to the Etsymom Team Board and the Etsymoms have been so sweet and supportive....sending hearts. Littleras.etsy made a good point, at least the seller said something so I wasn't waiting around for days to see what happened.

To shake off the bad mojo I have decided to include the matching earrings with the necklace ...free with purchase.

BUT what a pain in the neck all this ordeal was.

So, this week I do plan on posting some new items on Etsy. All of my free time was devoured by Bogus Purchase Episode. I will also be posting tomorrow on my blog, finally, the Snow Queen Necklace with the hammered jump rings. Stay Tuned.

Monday, November 24, 2008

The Talmadge Art Show held , November 23, was filled with lots of interesting treasures.

There were many artists with great works for sale. To my right was a woman who did awesome silver smithing. I watched so many attendants touch this super long and weighty handmade sterling silver chain all day long. The amount of work that went into the chain must have been immense.

To my left was a woman who made her own lampwork beads....wow! I only look at the stuff to make it in the Rio Grande catalog and wouldn't have a clue what to do with it.

Behind me was a woman who took vintage parts and made jewelry, Lizzie B. I got a Christmas present for myself there. A cute bracelet made out of old typewriter keys which spelled out PEACE. Her concept was kind of Steampunk, which I think is so cool. I couldn't bear to deck myself or my house out living that lifestyle, but I really appreciate the whole concept of it. Love IT!

Across from me was an artist, Anesart, who made these great fairy men who had hose nozzles for U KNOW WHATS. They were a hoot! I wondered around an happened upon a gal who made hand painted purses. Sounds weird, but they were quite lovely ....www.marionrenee.comI could have spent all my earning in one day.

I did this show last November as well. I remember line for check out at one point was really long. (They lined up past my table) This year though, the line never got long. The checkers move pretty quickly at the show..so I am chalking it up to the economy. Interestingly, I noticed folks at my table were making much smaller purchases than they did last year. People were buying gifts again but they were smaller than last year. Much smaller. Did anyone else out there notice this?

Thursday, October 30, 2008

It is certainly a busy time of year right now. I am getting ready for four major events! I will post them below. I always feel like I just need to make a few more pieces so that I am throughly prepared. It usually pays off though. On several occasions, it's that last item I squeezed in time to make that sells!

New item pictured above! Olive Wraps

My next show is for the Rady Children's Hosptial Axillary fund raiser. There were really a lot of quality items for sale last year. The best part is that a portion of each sale goes to the hospital! If you can possibly make it Wednesday morning...please come by. I will be VERY tired...but happy to be there. (Why will you be tired Laura?) Because I am going to the Madonna concert the night before! I am so excited. I am going with my girlfriends. My husband is staying home with the baby (and will be texting me election results). ...So being tired will be worth it.

"This event is put on by the North Park Craft Mafia, part of the nation-wide Craft Mafia that started in Austin, Tx. This will be my first time attending this show. It sounds like there will be a lot of fun and funky arts and crafts. Apparently the show has been so popular they just moved it to NTC (above)."

"This event is put on by the North Park Craft Mafia, part of the nation-wide Craft Maifa that started in Austin, Tx. This will be my first time attending this show. It sounds like there will be a lot of fun and funky arts and crafts. Apparently the show has been so popular they just moved it to NTC (above)."

Monday, October 13, 2008

I am heading into my first two shows next week. I need to make sure all my jewelry has hang tags. I also need to make sure all the jewelry is polished and looking good. I typically use the Sun Ray cleaning cloths or liquid. Both work great! When I sum it up here, it doesn't sound like a lot of work...but it's funny that it turns out to be pretty time consuming. I also need to pick up the jewelry I have on display at Chakra Pilates. http://www.chakrapilates.com is where I go for Pilates. My jewelry is also displayed there as well. (If you really want to get into shape....Pilates is the way to do it!!! )

Friday, October 10, 2008

It's Friday. Makes me want some fries. I have eaten a lot of comfort food this week. Mac n' cheese...Cheese enchiladas....I am beginning to see a cheese theme here. I am trying to recover from my car accident last week where my baby and I were rearended on the freeway. Baby is okay. I am still sore. It makes working on jewelry pretty difficult since I bend over a lot. Sadly my car was deemed a total loss yesterday.

I have so much to do right now since I am getting ready for many holiday shows. My first one is coming up on Monday, October 20th at 10am at JavaMama Cafe in La Mesa, California. There will be many items for moms and babies for sale.http://www.javamama.com

I am also working on a slew of simple earrings for a "Under $20" rack. They are basically small stones (usually briolette) and wire wrapped. They range anywhere from $11 to $19 depending on the stone and the type and gauge of wire.

I am hoping to be better soon...so I can get the ball rolling again.

If you are in the San Diego area and want to check out a craft fair for babies and moms please check out Javamama on Monday, October 20 from 10 - 12 am!!!

PS. I was accepted into the North Park Craft Mafia's Holiday Hit Parade on Dec. 7!!!!!!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Well my Sunday advertising in the Etsy Autumn showcase has ended. Yet again, the results are so-so. Not horrible, but not having me stalking the showcase reservation page for more opportunities.

The showcase is slightly harder to track, since viewers can view the image, enlarge it, but do not have to click though to your shop. I could only track a click though. Which is what I ultimately want anyway.

Since these spaces are $15 for 24 hours...my cost for click though is $0.176 (.18 rounded up) That's a lot of dough considering a listing or relisting is $0.20. And as I noted earlier, a listing usually pulls though a few views at the least.

I picked up about 10 hearts (marked as favorite) either as a seller or on a product. I hope to see them back soon to pick a lovely gift for themselves or someone else.

Would I do it again? Maybe. I am redoing some photography. I think that will help a lot. However, at this point, I think relisting items a lot is a more economical route for me and will garner me the same visibility.

Hope this helps anyone who is considering buying an ad slot of Etsy.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the Secret Tuesday Sale...which isn't so secret. :)

Friday, October 3, 2008

What a day yesterday. Someone hit me and the baby in my car on the freeway yesterday. We are okay. I am banged up. Apparently car seats work pretty well. Thank God! My car on the other hand doesn't seem so happy. I guess I will find out what's wrong today.

It looks as though Fedex will drop off my lighting today. I will be moving away from natural lighting to using photo lights and/or a light tent on my jewelry. On my way home from Pilates yesterday, I stopped at the craft store to pick up some lovely paper for back drops. On the way home is when my car got hit. The paper doesn't look so good anymore.

Before my car was towed, I asked my husband to get the stuff out of the trunk. I asked, "did you get the paper?" He said, "that wrinkled up paper?" Sigh. I guess better the paper than the people.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Does your creativity come in waves? Mine does. I will go for weeks with out any inspiration then all of a sudden one new idea leads to another. It's kind of weird how it happens that way.

Sometimes shopping for new materials is helpful. Sometimes browsing though fashion magazines helpful. Sometimes nothing is helpful. Luckily, I am currently on a creative wave. I keep a little book on my bench so I can jot ideas down and sketch out my ideas. It seems like more ideas come as I am working on my jewelry.

So what is happening now? Well I have modified the shape of my hoop earrings. I wrapped my tear dropped shape earrings around a wider base (the bottom part) and it makes a more circular tear drop shape. (Is that making sense?) Anyhow, I really like it. I will keep the original shape for my designs I have been making for awhile, like the Coral and Turquoise bead hoops pictured above. I think I will make some plain hoops in gold in silver in this new design as well. Sometimes it's nice to have some basic hoops.

I am currently ramping up on new designs and inventory for all the holiday shows. Yea!

Friday, September 19, 2008

It's already shaping up to be a crazy day. I have a hair cut appointment I completely forgot about at 11:45; my husband ran over a bolt yesterday and we had to take his car in to get repaired this morning and I can hear Aeron rolling around in his crib....not taking a nap. Hope things go more smoothly...like my hair. I hope my hair stylist will tame the mop on my head, which I unfortunately have no time to straighten anymore. ;(

Today's topic is a continuation of yesterday's discussion about the Snow Queen Necklace. But this time it is a HOW TO make hammered rings. (jump ring that is) At first I was making teeny tiny 6mm soldered jump rings myself, but soon discovered the work to be quite grueling. I enjoy making large, heavy gauge ones, but will leave the teeny tiny ones to someone else.

For hammered jump rings to use in necklaces, bracelets and earrings, I start with purchasing 6 mm heavy jump rings. Usually about 19/18 gauge. I then use a bench block and a chasing hammer to pound them flat making sure that the circle is even on all side. Once finished, I clean the rings in jewelry cleaner. I like the one by SunRay ...they make those fantastic cleaning clothes as well. That is it. It's pretty easy...but takes some time. The end result is pretty nice.

Since it is Friday I will be posting a new item on Etsy today. They are onyx colored Cubic Zirconia pendant earrings. They are long, elegant and real eye catcher. They are paired with two Swarovski Crystal bicones in Vitrail. Ohhhhlala!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hello and welcome to my first blog post titled, "Is anyone out there?" Today, probably not. However, I build so...you will visit.

To make this fun and worth your while, I will have a Secret Tuesday Sale posted every week with a selected item or items from my Etsy Store. http://LHJewelryBoutique.etsy.com Be patient with me, I am a relatively new mom and sometimes my days are started a bit late since I need to feed my little guy first thing...then find my way to the shower. It gets a bit hectic some days managing being a mom, a wife, having a business and being a dancer. Some days I wonder how I will manage. However, if I am not running around like a crazy person then I am totally bored.

So to sum this up, what you'll find around here are some sales (woohoo), some musings on my jewelry business (how-to, what's going on, what's new, shopping trips) life as a stay at home mom with a home business and maybe some belly dance stuff.